There is no biographical
file for pilot Gustine in the archives of the
National Air & Space Museum (NASM), Washington, DC.

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Your copy of the Davis-Monthan Airfield Register with all the pilots' signatures and helpful cross-references
to pilots and their aircraft is available at the link. Or use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author. ISBN 978-0-9843074-0-1.

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PAUL V. GUSTINE

Pilot Gustine landed twice at Tucson as pilot in command of an aircraft. He landed at least one other time as a passenger (see below). His first visit as a pilot was on Sunday, February 19, 1928, at 4::40PM. He carried W.M. Hopkins in a Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" he identified as NC3551. According to the Register, they were based at Tucson at this time at the Mayse Airport. He remained on the ground overnight, departing the next day at 4:45PM, apparently on a round robin flight with return to Tucson. Photograph, below, from Flying & Popular Aviation (PA) magazine, December, 1940.

Paul Gustine, Flying & Popular Aviation, December, 1940 (Source: PA)

Gustine's second landing as a pilot was on Sunday, September 21, 1930 at 4:45PM. He was solo this time, and identified his home base as Los Angeles, CA. He arrived from Yuma, AZ in the Great Lakes NC844K. He did not cite a departure date or destination.

Contributor to dmairfield.org, John Underwood has this to say about Gustine. He compiled the information from articles in old Popular Aviation magazines, which became today's Flying magazine. "Paul V. Gustine held Transport License 1856. He’s almost certainly among passengers shown on the fragment of the first entry with [Register pilot] Al Gilhousen in the Standard [*see below]. Gustine was an actor in Hollywood in the early '20s when he decided to move his wife to Tucson for health reasons. The upshot of that was [Register pilot] Charley Mayes taught him to fly with Ted Hereford et al in 1928. His first airplane was a very early Heath Parasol with an Anzani engine, which was one of a kind. Later he had the Great Lakes, NC844K., shown on [Register] page 146. Gustine became a pilot for Standard Airlines in 1928 and that led to flying Fords and Fokkers for T&WA and American, but not sure in what order. One of his charters for AA was Eleanor Roosevelt. When the Air Mail contracts were cancelled in 1934 he resumed his acting career and I believe took a job flying charters and joyriders in [Paul] Mantz’s Ford. "

*A fragment of paper in the original Register (not a page of the Register) lists Gustine as a passenger with Register pilot Al Gilhousen. Image below is of that fragment:, an "official" part of the Davis-Monthan Register. I adjusted the contrast of this image for easier readability. I'm pretty sure the date is February 6, 1925 or 26, because the Register was not placed at the Airfield until 1925.

I'm
looking for information and photographs of pilot Gustine and his airplanes to include on this page.
If you have some you'd like to share, please click this FORM to
contact me.

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TheCongress of Ghosts is an anniversary celebration for 2010. It is an historical biography, that celebrates the 5th year online of www.dmairfield.org and the 10th year of effort on the project dedicated to analyze and exhibit the history embodied in the Register of the Davis-Monthan Airfield, Tucson, AZ. This book includes over thirty people, aircraft and events that swirled through Tucson between 1925 and 1936. It includes across 277 pages previously unpublished photographs and texts, and facsimiles of personal letters, diaries and military orders. Order your copy at the link, or use this FORM to order a copy signed by the author. ISBN 978-0-9843074-4-9.